Blanchfield Heating in Kilkenny has grown into a nationwide leader when it comes to mechanical services. Building Ireland heard more recently from this thriving company’s Managing Director, Ronan Blanchfield.
Set-up by the late Jim Blanchfield and his son Ronan in 1994, Blanchfield Heating is a family-run business which has become widely renowned for providing its clients in the building industry with specialist commercial, industrial and healthcare mechanical services.
Today the company is run by Ronan, Catriona and Brian Blanchfield and is a private owner-managed business which has a flexible client-focused approach, as well as an appreciation of long-term business relationships.
For nearly quarter of a century now, Blanchfield Heating has completed numerous prestigious projects involving complex mechanical installations.
These include Plumbing, Heating, Insulation, Ventilation, Cladding, HVAC, Air Conditioning, Design Service, Medical Gases, Renewable Technologies, PVC Pipework, Co-Ordinated Drawings and Maintenance.
Ronan, who is General Manager of the firm, stated that across all aspects of the business, the company has experience in both design and installation and is capable of undertaking the complete management of any project from initial planning, design and estimation through to completion.
Ronan was good enough to take some time recently to give Building Ireland the lowdown on what his family’s business is all about, as well as fill us in on what they’ve been up to lately.
“At the moment, we have 45 staff and business is good. We are kept busy with several different projects currently in progress,” Ronan outlined.
“Some of the jobs we are working on at present are St Gerard’s School in Bray, District Heating Schemes in Arden Road, Tullamore and St. John’s Gate in Wexford Town. We are also working on St Loman’s Hospital, Mullingar and St Fintan’s Hospital in Portlaoise, so we’re certainly kept busy at the moment.
“We have successfully completed the new Hunters Yard Extension in Mount Juliet Estate, Citywest Hotel and Shannon Airport Arrivals Restaurant with David Flynn Limited and Tetrarch Capital Limited and Wexford Primary Care Centre with Balfour Beatty. Also we have successfully completed many educational projects including Loreto Secondary School in Kilkenny, Holy Trinity National School in Leopardstown, Scoil Bhride, Portlaoise and St. Mary’s Secondary School in Templemore.
“This list of projects gives an indication of the wide variety of projects that we are capable of working on and also gives an insight into the level of experience and knowledge that we pride ourselves in.”
Since ‘Day One’, Blanchfield Heating has always prided itself on its ability to carry out the majority of the work themselves.
The company have opted to use very few sub-contractors, according to the General Manager, sticking instead to their own employees when it comes to projects.
“We would mainly employ direct labour, which we feel is the best policy with regard to quality control and customers’ issues can be addressed swiftly. We also have a number of trusted Subcontractors on our books that we have been working with for many years.” said Ronan.
Indeed Blanchfield Heating is a customer services driven company and the aim has always been to provide optimum customer satisfaction in all aspects of the business from service calls to contract projects using continuous communication and technical expertise.
Ask Ronan Blanchfield himself what the goal of the company is and he’ll tell you plainly that it is to deliver projects, no matter what the size, on time and within budget.
“I think the reason our clients choose us first is because we offer quality work at competitive prices,” he stated.
“We pride ourselves on getting repeat business from our clients. A recent example of this is Affidea Ireland who carry out medical diagnostics. We have successfully completed projects for them in Waterford, Tallaght, Dundrum and Cork.”
The company is entirely committed to continuous improvement together with on-going training at all levels, keeps it at the forefront of the latest technology and management techniques. BIM and Revitt software are examples of some of the latest updates in technology.
Soon Blanchfield Heating will be moving into a brand new state of the art Unit which includes Offices and Warehouse/Workshop in the IDA Business Park in Purcellsinch. They have recently opened a new ventilation wing of the business offering its services to the market.
That’s a far cry from when the Blanchfields first started out with just five members in their staff.
Back then, the company was mainly focused on domestic installations. However, with both directors having a background in industrial services installations, the natural progression, once they had established themselves, was to move into the more diversified industrial sector.
While staff numbers have since grown to 45 this could well be set to increase further if business continues to boom as it has been in recent times, according to Ronan.
“It really depends on the work load, but we will be adding to staff numbers if work keeps increasing as steadily as it has been” he stated.
Our success is largely due to the flexibility and dedication of our staff, a number of whom have been with us from the beginning and are now in senior project management positions. This therefore gives the company greater flexibility to attend to clients’ needs quickly and efficiently.
Optimum customer satisfaction in all aspects of the business, from service calls to contract projects using continuous communication and technical expertise, remains the absolute priority for Blanchfield Heating.
Ronan concluded: “Our goal is to provide high quality work carried out within programme guidelines and budget. We feel that emphasis on co-operation and on safety in the workplace are factors that are desirable to the successful completion of projects.
“We have the structure in place to provide service to you from the design stage, through the installation stage and onto the service stage of your mechanical systems project.
“Our Sister Company, Blanchfield Mechanical Maintenance Ltd, offers a well-established small works service which encompasses general maintenance and servicing of equipment such as gas and oil boilers, chillers, pumps, Air Conditioning, Solar, Building management Systems & Water Treatment. We cater for the full range of mechanical services.”
Blanchfield Mechanical Maintenance are RGII and Fgas Registered and can offer Planned Preventative maintenance Contracts for Peace of Mind for the End User.
Blanchfield Heating
Kilkenny Enterprise Centre,
IDA Business Park,
Purcellsinch,
Kilkenny
Phone: +353 (0)56 7750371
Fax: +353 (0)56 7750376
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.blanchfieldheating.com
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, November 2018, Vol 4 No 10
